Goodbye XP—Enjoy Being a Zombie

Goodbye XP—Enjoy Being a Zombie
In case anyone hasn't heard, Windows XP was officially "put to death" by Microsoft on April 8th, though by some estimates there are still half a
billion people using it.

This is an opinion article by a regular contributor to PC Magazine by John Dvorak, a man whose opinion I often though not always share.

In the case of XP, I happen to agree with his thoughts that it was probably the pinnacle OS (operating system) for desktop productivity that Microsoft
ever made. He's obviously not getting paid by MS because of the less than kind things he says about their more recent operating systems, but I think
he has a point, especially if you are interested in desktop productivity applications. Maybe for home entertainment some of the newer OSes have some
advantages.

Here are a few excerpts from his comments but especially if you're one of the
27% still using XP, you may want to read the whole
thing.

Microsoft had to rush out Windows 7 in 2009 ahead of schedule to cover up the image of Vista. Windows 7 backed off on many of the fanciful
characteristics of Vista, which calmed down the complainers. Windows 7 was no better than Vista; in fact, I think it is worse. But no matter because
three years later we ended up with Windows 8, a real fiasco for the desktop users.

Meanwhile, there are those aforementioned one-half billion users still running Windows XP and Microsoft is clueless has to why this is.

So yesterday, Microsoft pulled the plug on XP. No more fixes, upgrades, or anything else. No patch Tuesday. No re-installs (from what I can
tell).

I'm still using XP but I don't think the risk has increased dramatically in the 2 days since they stopped supporting it, but eventually I
think it will become more risky, and I'll switch to something else. I doubt it will be another Microsoft OS since the alternatives available seem to
be inferior (I've installed them, tried them, and went back to XP).

To balance out the negativity of that opinion on the more recent Microsoft operating systems, here is another article from the same magazine which is
more encouraging about them:

One thing I found interesting in that article is extended support for some related software through July 2015:

Are there any exceptions? Amidst some backlash, Microsoft in February officially extended Microsoft Security Essentials updates for Windows XP
users through July 2015. "For enterprise customers, this applies to System Center Endpoint Protection, Forefront Client Security, Forefront Endpoint
Protection and Windows Intune running on Windows XP," Microsoft said. "For consumers, this applies to Microsoft Security Essentials." Still, Redmond
cautioned that anti-malware solutions on outdated operating systems are limited. Some anti-virus providers will extend support for XP users, but not
all.

So apparently Microsoft recognizes that not everybody stopped using XP on April 8, 2014 and are providing some limited support not for the
operating system, but for anti-malware software to use with it.

I'm sure I'll be using something else long before July 2015, and if you're still using XP, you may want to strive for that also, unless your PC usage
is so non-critical that you feel nothing bad could happen if malware or hackers took over your PC.

Any ATSers besides me still using XP? If so, what are your plans? How long do you plan to keep using it? If you plan to change operating systems, to
what?

Thurisaz
It is pathetic that Microsoft are forcing People (Consumers) to upgrade and spend money.

I wouldn't mind upgrading if the newer operating
systems were better, but for John Dvorak and me (and maybe some of those half billion people who also still use XP), they aren't better, they are
worse.

Windows 98 and Windows XP... Mmmm those were the days. I stopped using XP awhile ago, but not as a choice. I'm on windows 8 now, but its a little
yuck. At least you can tweak it a bit to get back the normal windows desktop/start button stuff..

stopped using XP about 03ish, now running Microknoppix 7.2 on an 08ish laptop. I tried switching to a tablet, but after three months, Im back on the
laptop.Android has many limitations. Anyone use Chromebooks?

I went Apple back in 2006 and bought my second Macbook just two months ago after my last becoming inoperable a little over a year ago. I will never go
back to PC and went this long without because, well MacBooks aren't cheap but it shows just how much I loathe PC. But from 2006 to 2012 I had no real
issues with my Macbook it died only because my little one dumped a large cup of chocolate milk on the keyboard. It really was a wonderful machine. The
new Macbook with Retina is simply fantastic. A friend was over with her new Macbook without the Retina and it was next to mine. The difference was
staggering....

Although Apple has some of its own problems, specifically IMO their desire for all things proprietary but hands down better than any MS OS.

I still have an old laptop with XP on it that I just use for [snip] around and testing things once in a while.

I don't get why folks are so hung up on XP. Sure, if you have no money and cobbled together a PC from parts salvaged from some African landfill then I
guess you would be happy to run XP on your single gig SDRAM 486DX machine.

Even Vista, while it certainly did suck, was okay if your machine could handle it. Jerk-off manufacturers helped ruin Vista by stocking retail shelves
with barely minimum requirement machines so when the typical no-nothing user got home they were stuck with a PC that spun and burned and lagged to do
anything and naturally just blamed the only thing they could understand, Vista.

So much of this "I hate Mac OS" or "I hate Windows 8" or "I hate Linux" or "I hate Chrome OS" is rooted in simple ignorance.

I have tried to steer all my customers away from XP. I am not convinced there will be a terrible virus outbreak, or any other catastrophe, but if I
say nothing , and there is something bad, then I am the bad guy. I actually like windows 7. It's as close to XP as it can be and it doesn't have
the annoying "Vista" feel. I am used to the arrangement of things and I hope they fashion the next OS more like 7 and NOTHING like 8. IMO Windows
8 is great for a touch screen and awful for anything else.

I will miss XP. I had it figured out and could usually fix most issues without a reload. Not so much with 7.

A couple of months ago my cpu went kablooey so had to upgrade to Windows7. I've tried a little with Windows 8 and 8.1 and it just sucks. everyone
agrees that I've heard from. Especially the touchscreen nonsense. Not a fan.

I've gotten used to 7 and I got my cpu experience back to pretty much the same as it was with XP. I like it now.

The fact that they can bully you into making more software purchases when you're perfectly happy with what you have right now is not right. Planned
obsolescence is a bitch.

thisguyrighthere
I don't get why folks are so hung up on XP. Sure, if you have no money and cobbled together a PC from parts salvaged from some African landfill then
I guess you would be happy to run XP on your single gig SDRAM 486DX machine.

Microsoft doesn't get it either, but for me it's got nothing to
do with money. I already have Vista and Windows 7 and tried them and just found them to be inferior, as did Dvorak. My hardware was fine, so that
wasn't the problem either.

I'll give one example, in XP I could set my folder properties once and they were set. There was no such provision in the newer OS where I had to set
folder properties 5 times for 5 different types of folders. So in just this one aspect it's 400% less efficient, and there are many other issues.
Maybe less advanced users don't see all the problems.

I have Windows 7 installed on a virtual machine....which I very rarely use, just occasionally to check things for the poor souls who have issues. My
native OS is 64bt PCLinuxOS and it does everything I like just the way I like it (becasue it is very configurable). The apps all work perfectly even
to the extent of reading and writing Microsoft flavours of documents. It costs me precisely nothing. Oh and the laptops I buy I get cheaper becasue I
don't have to have an O/s installed.

There are so many varieties of Linux there is bound to be one that suits you, I even tried one that mimicked the Apple O/S a quite impressive clone!
Oh and every one of them is free as well and almost all distros come as live these days so you can try before you buy.

Arbitrageur
I'll give one example, in XP I could set my folder properties once and they were set. There was no such provision in the newer OS where I had to set
folder properties 5 times for 5 different types of folders. So in just this one aspect it's 400% less efficient, and there are many other issues.
Maybe less advanced users don't see all the problems.

You're looking at a feature as a bug. Just set Folder Options as you want universally then single out specific folders you want viewed differently.
Takes all of 40 seconds the first time you log in.

Nice work getting the "advanced users" jab in. Real cute.

From the Zombie article:

The main use of the Windows operating system has always been desktop productivity. It wasn't so much for watching TV or
slideshows with grandma. Windows 8, for sure, has made productivity more difficult by all accounts. While it is nice to know the time without
squinting, I do not need my personal photos flashed on the screen for no good reason. Windows 8 is laughable.

This tells me the author either doesnt know what he's doing or is playing willfully ignorant to make it appear as though there is a burden where there
is none. As if complaining the TV is too loud and distracting to get any work done yet refusing to simply turn the TV off.

Sparky63
I hope this is true. I have Windows 7 on my computer but my wife has XP on her work computer. She was in a panic yesterday until I found the update I
posted above.

There is a risk to continue to use it which goes up over time, but if she doesn't do anything sensitive like online banking it
might be OK. I used Windows 2000 for at least a year after support ended and had no problems, in fact I still have an old virtual PC running Windows
2000 which I use for one application because it runs so well on 2000, but I wouldn't use it for online banking.

thisguyrighthere
I guess you would be happy to run XP on your single gig SDRAM 486DX machine.

So much of this "I hate Mac OS" or "I hate Windows 8" or "I hate Linux" or "I hate Chrome OS" is rooted in simple ignorance.

I have three computers that all have only one gig of ram and that are maxed out. So i am unable to run windows vista, 7 or 8. I will be switching to
Lubuntu in the near future. Lubuntu is a lightweight version of Ubuntu. I have been practicing with it and i kind of like it. It runs great with one
gig of ram. Does anyone know if Lubuntu is safe to run? Would this be my next best option? I am nervous to switch because my existing programs will
become uncompilable. Thanks for posting this

thisguyrighthere
You're looking at a feature as a bug. Just set Folder Options as you want universally then single out specific folders you want viewed differently.
Takes all of 40 seconds the first time you log in.

Nice work getting the "advanced users" jab in. Real cute.

I didn't say it was a bug, I said it's 400% less efficient to change 5 defaults
when I could just change one default on XP. The least they could have done was made a provision to change all 5 types at once but I never found that
and found some Microsoft support person posting saying there was no such thing, I just had to do 5 times as much work with the newer OS. And it took
longer than 40 seconds, especially when you consider multiple PCs, reinstalls, etc. and it's just one of many annoyances.

I agree that XP was the most important product of the technological age, that we've had! When computers became mainstream XP was the base of that. It
was brilliant.. although it looks kinda VGAish compared to 7.

It will never die but, getting around Microsoft xp activation is as simple as picking up a rash in Thailand. Torrents of the ISO will forever be
available. XP will never die!

Many Linux flavors are great for breathing new life into older, slower machines. Nothing to worry about as long as you go with an actively updated
distro of which Lubuntu is one.

Inevitably you will experience issues with cross-platform incompatibility. There is always a workaround so don't worry too much. You can ease the
transition by starting to switch over to open source programs while you run XP now so when the time to move to Linux comes you'll be more familiar
with what is required to maintain cross platform compatibility.

My office is a mix of several Linux distros, XP, 7 and at least a dozen Windows 8 machines. All work together perfectly fine.

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